Morvern Callar

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All Rise...

Novels and suicide are the subjects of this Scotting film reviewed by Judge Mitchell Hattaway.

The Charge

I wrote it for you. I love you. Be brave.

Opening Statement

Adapted from the novel by Alan Warner, director Lynne Ramsay's second feature
is a chronicle of a young Scottish woman adrift. Featuring the gifted Samantha
Morton, the film, if the critics' blurbs are to be believed, promises to be a
remarkable, powerful experience. Does it deliver?

Facts of the Case

Morvern Callar (Samantha Morton) is a young Scottish woman who spends her
days working in a local market and her nights clubbing and partying with her
best friend Lanna (Kathleen McDermott). Her life is changed, however, when she
awakens one morning during the Christmas season to find her boyfriend has ended
his life by slashing his wrists. He leaves no suicide note, only a brief goodbye
on his computer, along with instructions regarding the manuscript of a novel he
had written. That evening, Morvern goes out with Lanna, but tells no one of
these events. According to Morvern, her lover is at home in the kitchen, which
in a perverse sense is actually the truth. She will later tell Lanna her
boyfriend left her and moved out of the country. She will also remove his name
from the manuscript, substituting her own before she sends it out to prospective
publishers. What happens next you should experience for yourself.

The Evidence

Director Ramsay (Ratcatcher), working here with cinematographer Alwin
Kulcher, shoots the film in a cinema vérité style, making use of
mostly natural light and handheld cameras. The film unfolds, not surprisingly,
in a novelistic manner, relying more on character and incident than the
machinations of plot. It wouldn't work half as well with a cast half as strong,
but that's not a problem here.

Morton and McDermott are both nothing short of astonishing in this film.
Until now my main experience with Morton had been as the dissenting Pre-Cog in
Minority Report, so I wasn't really
sure to expect, but I wasn't let down. Carrying a film of this type can't be an
easy task, but she pulls it off effortlessly. McDermott makes her feature film
debut here, and her performance is every bit as commanding as that of her
co-star. Both easily capture the ennui of young individuals stuck in a holding
pattern. Nothing is revealed about the past of these characters, but it's easy
to see their day-to-day activities don't vary much.

Ramsay is wise in presenting the story as matter-of-factly as she does. The
filmmaker doesn't judge Morvern, and that's the correct choice. It's apparent
she's not acting out of malice, but why exactly does she pretend her boyfriend's
work is her own? We don't know if she's read the work, so she's taking a bit of
a risk in doing so, but at the same she seems to have nothing to lose and
everything to gain (not just monetarily, either). This uncertainty is one of the
strengths of the film, though.

The film also achieves what I think only the best novel-to-screen
adaptations achieve: it made me want to read the source material. Having seen
the film, I'm making it a point to seek out the novel.

The presentation is fine for a film of this nature, with one exception. The
transfer exhibits frequent grain, but I'm sure that's a stylistic choice and is
probably present in the negative (I can't imagine this film working as well if
the cinematography resembled that of a Michael Bay film). There are a few nicks
and scratches on the print, but it doesn't become bothersome. The soundtrack is
naturally dialogue heavy, and is primarily screen-centric. The surrounds and LFE
channel do kick in on a few occasions, conveying pub/party atmosphere and the
music on the mix tape Morvern's boyfriend made her as a Christmas gift. I might
add that a ringing phone near the beginning of the film sounded over my right
shoulder and nearly scared me half to death.

The disc isn't packed to the gills with features, but in this case that's
not a bad thing, as the film pretty much speaks for itself. The theatrical
trailer is included, along with brief (and I do mean brief) interviews with the
director and her stars. Previews for other Palm Pictures title and weblinks are
also included.

What about the exception I mentioned? The disc contains no subtitles or
captions. While that might not seem like a big deal, there are times during this
film when the Scottish accents can be quite thick and unintelligible. At certain
points I missed important dialogue simply because I couldn't understand what was
being said. I backtracked and cranked up the volume, but that didn't help. I was
only able to understand the gist of what had been said by the characters' later
actions.

Closing Statement

Morvern Callar is both quietly effective and quietly affecting. This
is the type of film for which there seems to be no middle ground. I know people
to whom I could never recommend this film, and others who would, for lack of a
better phrase, get it right off the bat. Maybe I can sum it up this way: if you
prefer Bad Boys 2 to American
Splendor, this film probably isn't for you.

The Verdict

Palm Pictures is slapped on the wrist for dropping the ball on the subtitle
option. Lynne Ramsay is cleared of all charges and is free to move on with her
next project, an adaptation of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, if Peter Jackson
hasn't taken over, that is. Court is adjourned.